I'm what you'd call a midlist author: every couple years, I publish a book that does reasonably well. I haven't been to the top of the bestseller lists, but (he said dryly) my books have ended up on the front cover of a couple prominent remainder catalogs. I earn royalties and advances, but I also have a day job.

According to recent data released by research firm Statista, the bookselling business is on a rebound. After a number of years in decline, sales picked up in 2015 (a 1.9 percent increase from the previous year), and the trend continued into the first half of 2016 with revenues up another 6.1 percent. Is this a fluke?

A bestseller less than a month after its release, Daniel Arenson's military science fiction novel Earth Alone is full of soul. Set in a horrid dystopia in which Earth has been devastated by alien invaders, the book is about the humanity that shines even in a time of privation and war.

Without a doubt it has been a struggle to bring my story to the big screen. But now I realize, it's even harder to get an online review posted on Amazon because of the unfair book review policy they have.

Knowing the impact that one perfect novel had on my life, I set out with my colleagues, Paul Stiff and Josh Conviser, to understand America's relationship with books--research we were doing for a grant from the National Science Foundation for our company's innovation in book discovery.

Are you on the quest for the best single device for all your pursuits? What can answer email, handle books, play a few games, and take decent photos? There are lots of devices that can fit all those categories but it's highly likely that you shouldn't choose any of them.

For some, their electronics are more intimate companions than those flesh and blood beings with whom they share their lives. Smart phones, tablets, laptops and Kindles are cuddled closer to bodies than human loved ones.